A Haunting in Venice review: Agatha Christie, meet Scooby-Doo

Kenneth Branagh clearly enjoys his Hercule Poirot movie. The latest. Venice Haunted, marks Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green’s third take on Agatha Christie’s iconic detective, after 2017’s Murder on Orient Express and 2022’s Death on the Nile. It’s also the loosest adaptation of the three of them by far. Branagh’s new film breaks every adaptation rule. He combines genres. The Christie adaptations were always going to be over-the-top. Branagh finally lets go, making Venice HauntedThe best in the series so far.

[Ed. note: This post contains light setup spoilers for A Haunting in Venice.]

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Venice Haunted is technically based on Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en PartyHercule poirot, the famous Belgian detective, is called in to solve the crime. Branagh transforms the story, from a whodunit into Gothic horror.

Now the Halloween party doesn’t take place in a small English town; it’s in a crumbling Venetian palazzo. Rowena (a regular Englishwoman) is also there.True Detective’s Kelly Reilly) is now a glamorous, fading opera star who wants to host a seance to communicate with her dead daughter, who she claims was killed by ghosts. Joyce Reynolds has grown up and is not a precocious thirteen-year-old anymore. She claims to have the ability to speak with ghosts. (She’s also played by Michelle Yeoh.) In this film, the issue of whether or not ghosts and other hauntings exist is an important one. It’s less of an adaptation and more like Branagh and Green turning a lesser-known Christie novel into a Scooby-Doo-like haunted house mystery.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s absolutely where Branagh’s Poirot movies have been leading. As a director, Branagh has infamously indulged in the over-the-top nature of his Christie movies’ settings — the cramped yet indulgent train cars in Murder on Orient ExpressThe steamboat cruises through lush Nile backdrops. The tone of many scenes is exaggerated. But that’s generally been the vibe of these movies, from the way they’re directed to the way Branagh plays up Poirot’s cartoonier elements. (I will never forget the fact that he gave Poirot’s elaborate mustache an overly tragic backstory in the opening of Death on the Nile)

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Branagh raises the stakes in this ghost story by adding the idea of the existence of the paranormal. It’s done by making the location a character. This isn’t just a typical Gothic manor; no, it’s a claustrophobic Venetian manor, with long, narrow hallways that lead to false entrances, windy balconies with views that plummet to the ground, and iron gates that emphasize that the partygoers are all trapped here.

The place also has a sinister backstory, a curse that has something to do with dead orphans and a plague, which gives Branagh an easy excuse to insert creepy children’s songs, childlike laughter, and plague doctor masks. Rain is causing the guests to be trapped inside the house. This makes it the ideal setting for a murder. The eerie thumping of the docked gondolas as the waves pound against the building’s foundation adds extra oomph.

20th Century Studios

It’s wonderfully atmospheric and creepy, made all the more so by the lingering question of whether ghosts actually exist, and whether Poirot is simply losing his marbles as he hears laughter that’s not really there and sees the figures of children reflected in mirrors. He insists that there is a logical reason for the odd occurrences. Like the crime-solvers of the Scooby-Doo franchise’s Mystery Inc. before him, Poirot must not only solve a mystery, but You can also read about how to get in touch with us. prove to a group of willing believers that ghosts don’t exist, thank you very much. This Venetian house is unsellable, continuing the Scooby-Doo-like comparison. The jump scares can be a bit cheap but overall the setting and foreboding atmosphere is enough to make you feel spooked.

Venice HauntedThe movie confirms what Branagh, Green and their Poirot films have tried to achieve. Namely, they aren’t as interested in directly adapting Agatha Christie novels as they are in using her flamboyant detective and her clever frameworks as jumping-off points for fully indulging in fun theatricality. Christie’s most popular novels were set in exotic places. Murder on Orient ExpressYou can also find out more about the following: Death on the NileThe stories of both films are based on clever and satisfying mysteries, but the additions like the garish CG set or the absurd performances took away from their storylines.

With the help of Venice HauntedBranagh goes totally off-book and immerses the locked room thriller in paranormal terror. He’s turned his version of Poirot into a distinctive, peculiar character that he fully owns, then thrust him into his own lavish mysteries. Instead of leaning hard on Christie’s work (and doing it a disservice in the process), he’s running wild and setting Poirot loose.

Venice HauntedThe movie is released in cinemas on September 15.